“Nearly 6,000 migrants must be evacuated from Libyan refugee camps”
Around 6,000 migrants are imprisoned in Libyan detention centers and should be evacuated to Europe as quickly as possible, says MSF medical aid organization.
Human rights organizations have already found cases of abuse and torture in the camps on several occasions, and the armed conflicts around the capital Tripoli make matters worse.
“There is no place in Libya where these migrants and refugees can stay outside the danger of conflict,” said MSF mission leader in Libya, Sam Turner, in Rome. “That is why we demand the urgent humanitarian evacuation of these people.”
MSF is calling on the EU Member States to help with the evacuation and is also asking for support from the Libyan Coast Guard. The latter would intercept migrants at sea and bring them straight to the detention centers.
“The number of migrants to be rescued from detention camps does not exceed 5,800 people or about one percent of the estimated number of foreigners in Libya,” Turner said.
In anticipation of a European concern about a massive influx of asylum seekers from Libya, Turner says that the majority of migrants in Libya do not want to migrate to Europe.
